Exploring the world through reviews.

Quick Tips for Busy Families

I decided to read Quick Tips for Busy Families: Sneaky Strategies for Raising Great Kids by Jay Payleitner because it looked like a quick, fun read. The book is 233 pages long and includes 144 strategies for raising great kids. The average length of the strategies is about a page.

In order to consider this book worthwhile, I was wanting to reflect on new ideas. And I did! I read twenty-two parenting tips and organizational strategies that I had not thought of before and would like to implement in parenting. Twenty-two might not seem like a high number, but it’s actually quite a lot! I have read many books that were full of practical advice but had no ideas that felt “new” to me.

There were only a handful strategies I did not like, which included:

Strategy 13. Waiting to give your child their own personal library card until they are old enough to understand its significance.

Strategy 11, “Buy Them One Thing.” In this strategy, the child routinely chooses one thing while at the grocery store (to give them a voice while cutting out tantrums and begging for multiple things).

Strategy 37. “The Slurpee Solution.” When the kids are being unruly in the car, Mom will stop the car and get a treat for herself.

There is nothing wrong with these aforementioned strategies; they were just not my cup of tea. (One of Payleitner’s strategies, Strategy 130, is “Don’t Blindly Follow My Advice.”) Each family is different, and with 144 ideas, you’ll probably find many ideas you like!